Welcome to Brian’s Book Blog’s weekly New and Notable Audiobooks Post for the Week of October 3rd.
Comment below on any I missed or what you’re excited about!
Authors, narrators, producers, and publishers — any of the books featured here are prime candidates for review.
If you see yourself featured here, I would love to review your audiobook! Click the button to submit your book for review.
Book covers and bold titles may have affiliate links to Amazon (where you can buy the Audible version).
Clicking these helps support this site, so thank you if you do.
New to Audible or Audiobooks in general? Welcome!
Get 2 FREE Audiobooks (instead of one) by clicking on the banner or here.
The Loop by Jeremy Robert Johnson
Narrated by Inés del Castillo
Simon & Schuster
“Unputdownable…. Fans of The Twilight Zone, The X-Files, and Stranger Things will be especially thrilled.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)
“A satisfyingly dark satire of, well, everything…. Imagine Blake Crouch and Mira Grant re-writing Chuck Wendig’s Wanderers – fans of all three authors are part of the wide audience who will flock to this heart-pounding and deeply unsettling tale.” (Booklist)
Stranger Things meets World War Z in this heart-racing conspiracy thriller as a lonely young woman teams up with a group of fellow outcasts to survive the night in a town overcome by a science experiment gone wrong.
Turner Falls is a small tourist town nestled in the hills of western Oregon, the kind of town you escape to for a vacation. When an inexplicable outbreak rapidly develops, this idyllic town becomes the epicenter of an epidemic of violence as the teenaged children of several executives from the local biotech firm become ill and aggressively murderous. Suddenly the town is on edge, and Lucy and her friends must do everything it takes just to fight through the night.
Wayward Galaxy by Jason Anspach, JN Chaney
Narrated by R.C. Bray
Podium Audio
The future isn’t what they expected.
A company of Army Rangers is sent on an interstellar colony ship to secure a foothold on a dangerous, alien planet through violence of action. Leaving behind a warring Earth flung headfirst into a conflict of mutual assured destruction, the Rangers and the accompanying crew of first colonists are guided on a 40-year journey by an unprecedented artificial intelligence.
But when they emerge from the frigid embrace of cryosleep, they awake to a nightmare, finding themselves greeted by the same ruthless enemy that brought about the ruin of Earth. Alone on a dangerous, alien planet and with no hope of rescue or relief, the military colonists are forced to finish the war they thought they’d left behind. And in an unknown galaxy, friends and enemies alike prove to be much more than they seem.
Wayward Galaxy is an explosive military science-fiction adventure featuring defective AIs, valorous soldiers, a brilliant scientist, and gritty combat written by Jason Anspach (Associated Press best seller and cocreator of Galaxy’s Edge) and J.N. Chaney (USA Today best seller and author of the Renegade series).
A Pivot in Time by Douglas E. Richards
Narrated by Dan Bittner
Audible, Inc.
Kelly, Justin, and Otto return in a riveting near-future thriller. From the million-copy New York Times best-selling author.
“Richards is an extraordinary writer” (Dean Koontz) who can “keep you turning the pages all night long”. (Douglas Preston)
The Enigma Cube is an alien object of unlimited power, with technology that can catapult civilization to dizzying heights – or destroy it entirely. Kelly Connolly and Justin Boyd are determined to wield its power for good. But China has a cube of its own, and its motivations are much less benign….
Otto Richter is an unparalleled genius. To save his own life and reunite with Kelly and Justin in 2027, he’s forced to travel back to ancient Rome. But when he arrives things go horribly wrong. Now their reunion can take place only in the past. Worse, he learns that the alien cube plans to meddle with the timeline. To intervene at a point so pivotal, one wrong move by the time travelers could completely obliterate all of modern history.
“Richards is a worthy successor to Michael Crichton.” (SF Book dot com)
Near-future science fiction thriller by Douglas E. Richards
Mutation by Michael McBride
Narrated by Neil Hellegers
Tantor Audio
It lives.
In a research hangar in Virginia, a Unit 51 team studies an ancient but long-dormant virus that can transform human physiology – and turn it into something else….
It mutates.
In the Amazon rain forest, a newly evolving life form known as Subject Z acquires the ability to think conceptually, build elaborate traps, create new carriers – and spawn a new race….
It spreads.
In Mexico and Turkey, the men and women of Unit 51 race to uncover a global link between the mutations: a connection as ancient as the oldest tombs on earth – and as alien and unknowable as the universe itself. But time is running out. The infected are growing in number. And the nightmare is going viral.
Point B by Drew Magary
Narrated by Rebecca Soler
Podium Audio
When the corporate monolith PortSys brought porting to the masses, CEO Emilia Kirsch and her son, Jason, accomplished what every other start-up company had failed to deliver.
They really did change the world. They reversed climate change. They created a multitrillion-dollar industry out of thin air, curing economic woes across the globe. They made it so that anyone could be anywhere simply by touching a screen…including the man who murdered Sarah Huff.
Now, Sarah’s 17-year-old sister, Anna, is determined to hunt the bastard down. But there are a few problems. She doesn’t know who the killer is or where in the world he may be at any given moment. Also, she’s stuck at prestigious Druskin Academy, where PortPhones are banned and any student who attempts to port off campus is immediately expelled.
It gets stickier. Anna’s also fallen in love with her dazzling new roommate, who just so happens to be Emilia Kirsch’s daughter, Lara. The dean of students wants Anna dead, perhaps literally. And she has only two friends to confide in; one is a reckless alcoholic and the other a bizarre fussbudget. Oh, and now she also needs to find Lara, who has mysteriously disappeared from campus.
Point B is the story of one clever and occasionally determined young woman seeking both love and vengeance but hardly ready for those two missions to intersect. It takes you to Vietnam, Hollywood, Singapore, Tokyo, inland Mexico, Oxford, the Maldives, Cuba, the coast of Northeast Australia, and all points beyond. You will find yourself plunged into a borderless, chaotic, oddly miraculous world that is ruled by a single bloodless corporation and by a family determined to keep it that way. PortSys never expected Anna Huff, and Anna Huff never expected love to make her this daring.
From the author of The Postmortal and The Hike comes Magary’s most deliriously entertaining novel yet.
Anarchy of the Mice by Jeff Bond
Narrated by Jarret Lemaster, Natalie Duke
Self Published
From Jeff Bond, author of Blackquest 40 and The Pinebox Vendetta, comes Anarchy of the Mice, book one in an epic new series starring Quaid Rafferty, Durwood Oak Jones, and Molly McGill: the trio of freelance operatives known collectively as Third Chance Enterprises.
How far could society fall without data? Account balances, property lines, government ID records – if it all vanished, if everyone’s scorecard reset to zero, how might the world look?
The Blind Mice are going to show us.
Molly McGill is fighting it. Her teenage son has come downstairs in a T-shirt from these “hacktivists” dominating the news. Her daughter’s bus is canceled – too many stoplights out – and school is in the opposite direction of the temp job she’s supposed to be starting this morning. She is twice-divorced; her PI business, McGill Investigators, is on the rocks; what kind of life is this for a woman a mere 12 credit-hours shy of her PhD?
Then the doorbell rings.
It’s Quaid Rafferty, the charming – but disgraced – former governor of Massachusetts, and his plainspoken partner, Durwood Oak Jones. The guys have an assignment for Molly. It sounds risky, but the pay sure beats switchboard work.
They need her to infiltrate the Blind Mice.
Danger, romance, intrigue, action for miles – whatever you listen to, Anarchy of the Mice is coming for you.
Skyhunter by Marie Lu
Narrated by Natalie Naudus
Macmillan Audio
This program includes a bonus conversation between the author and narrator.
A broken world.
An overwhelming evil.
A team of warriors ready to strike back.
Number-one New York Times best-selling author Marie Lu is back with an adrenaline-laced novel about the lengths one warrior will go to fight for freedom and those she loves.
Talin is a Striker, a member of an elite fighting force that stands as the last defense for the only free nation in the world: Mara.
A refugee, Talin knows firsthand the horrors of the Federation, a world-dominating war machine responsible for destroying nation after nation with its terrifying army of mutant beasts known only as Ghosts.
But when a mysterious prisoner is brought from the front to Mara’s capital, Talin senses there’s more to him than meets the eye. Is he a spy from the Federation? What secrets is he hiding?
Only one thing is clear: Talin is ready to fight to the death alongside her fellow Strikers for the only homeland she has left…with or without the boy who might just be the weapon to save – or destroy – them all.
Loyalty is life.
A Macmillan Audio production from Roaring Brook Press
Roommaid by Sariah Wilson
Narrated by Lauren Ezzo
Brilliance Publishing
From bestselling author Sariah Wilson comes a charming romance about living your life one dream at a time.
Madison Huntington is determined to live her dreams. That means getting out from under her family’s wealth and influence by saying no to the family business, her allowance, and her home. But on a teacher’s salary, the real world comes as a rude awakening – especially when she wakes up every morning on a colleague’s couch. To get a place of her own (without cockroaches, mold, or crime scene tape), Madison accepts a position as a roommaid. In exchange for free room and board, all she needs to do is keep her busy roommate’s penthouse clean and his dog company. So what if she’s never washed a dish in her life. She can figure this out, right?
Madison is pretty confident she can fake it well enough that Tyler Roth will never know the difference. The finance whiz is rich and privileged and navigates the same social circles as her parents – but to him she’s just a teacher in need of an apartment. He’s everything Madison has run from, but his kindhearted nature, stomach-fluttering smile, and unexpected insecurities only make her want to get closer. And Tyler is warming to the move.
Rewarding job. Perfect guy. Great future. With everything so right, what could go wrong? Madison is about to find out.
Just like You by Nick Hornby
Narrated by Ben Bailey Smith, Hattie Ladbury
Penguin Audio
“[A] charming, funny, touching, and relevant comedy.” (The Boston Globe)
“A provocative yet sweet romantic comedy.” (People, Best of Fall 2020)
This warm, wise, highly entertaining 21st-century love story is about what happens when the person who makes you happiest is someone you never expected.
Lucy used to handle her adult romantic life according to the script she’d been handed. She met a guy just like herself: same age, same background, same hopes and dreams; they got married and started a family. Too bad he made her miserable. Now, two decades later, she’s a nearly divorced 41-year-old schoolteacher with two school-aged sons, and there is no script anymore. So when she meets Joseph, she isn’t exactly looking for love – she’s more in the market for a babysitter. Joseph is 22, living at home with his mother, and working several jobs, including the butcher counter where he and Lucy meet. It’s not a match anyone one could have predicted. He’s of a different class, a different culture, and a different generation. But sometimes it turns out that the person who can make you happiest is the one you least expect, though it can take some maneuvering to see it through.
Just Like You is a brilliantly observed, tender, but also brutally funny new novel that gets to the heart of what it means to fall surprisingly and headlong in love with the best possible person – someone you didn’t see coming.
This Secret Thing by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen
Narrated by Joshilyn Jackson
Brilliance Publishing
Out of love. Out of protection. Out of fear. Everyone has a reason to lie.
Everyone in Raleigh, North Carolina, is talking about Norah Ramsey, the single mother accused of being a suburban madam. But Norah’s not the only one keeping secrets.
After her mother’s arrest, Norah’s teenage daughter, Violet, is devastated and alone. She has no one to turn to until her grandmother Polly arrives. Polly, long estranged from Norah, is running from her own troubles. Down the street, Bess, once Norah’s best friend, desperately tries to hide secrets while Casey, Bess’s daughter, flees college after a traumatic event, only to find that home isn’t the safe haven she expected. And Nico, the detective who has doggedly pursued Norah Ramsey in hopes that she will lead him to his missing brother, is drawn further into these women’s lives while facing his own domestic disturbance.
Scandal has brought each of them to a crossroads. Now, as they delve into Norah’s secrets, they must come to terms with secrets of their own – ones that still have the power to hurt or to heal.
Under Shifting Stars by Alexandra Latos
Narrated by Rebecca Soler, Brittany Pressley
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
This heartfelt novel for fans of Jandy Nelson and Adam Silvera follows twins Audrey and Clare as they grapple with their brother’s death and their changing relationships – with each other and themselves.
Audrey’s best friend was always her twin, Clare. But as they got older, they grew apart, and when their brother Adam died, Clare blamed Audrey for the accident.
Now, Audrey’s attending an alternative school where she feels more isolated than ever. Tired of being seen as different from her neurotypical peers, Audrey’s determined to switch to the public high school, rebuild her friendship with Clare, and atone for Adam’s death…but she’ll need to convince her parents, and her therapist, first.
Clare knows her sister thinks she’s the perfect twin, but Audrey doesn’t realize that Clare’s “popular” status is crumbling – she’s begun to question old friendships, dress in Adam’s clothes, and wonder what feelings for a nonbinary classmate, Taylor, might mean. As she grapples with not only grief but also her gender fluidity, Clare wonders where she’ll belong if she sheds her carefully constructed image and embraces her true self.
Will first crushes, new family dynamics, and questions of identity prove that Audrey and Clare have grown too different to understand each other – or that they’ve needed each other all along?
Disclose by Joelle Charbonneau
Narrated by Caitlin Kelly
HarperCollins Publishers
Twisted facts and bent truths take center stage in this sequel to Verify, which number one New York Times best-selling author Ellen Hopkins calls “a thought-provoking tale of intrigue, beautifully crafted”.
Meri Buckley has lost everything. She lost her mother to a fight much bigger than herself. Her father to grief, fear, and denial. And the truth – to an overbearing government that insists that censorship and secrecy is the only path to peace. But though Meri and her band of truth-seeking Stewards did lose the first battle in their quest to enlighten the public, they have not yet lost the war. Meri can start the revolution she seeks, if the powerful figures who profit from the status quo don’t find her – and kill her first.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Narrated by Carey Mulligan
Penguin Audio
A Good Morning America Book Club Pick!
“Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices…. Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?”
A dazzling novel about all the choices that go into a life well-lived, from the internationally best-selling author of Reasons to Stay Alive and How to Stop Time.
Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?
In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig’s enchanting new novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist, she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.
The Boy I Loved Before by Jenny Colgan
Narrated by Gemma Dawson
Tantor Audio
Jenny Colgan’s laugh-out-loud funny The Boy I Loved Before is a new comedy about second chances.
If you could do it all again knowing what you know now….
While attending her best friend Sashy’s wedding, Flora Scurrison realizes that this monotonous, nine-to-five, cookie-cutter life is exactly what’s in store for her. While it might be okay for Sashy, it’s certainly not what she envisioned for herself when she was 16.
So when her boyfriend proposes to her during the reception, Flora makes a wish to go back and do it all over again. The next morning she wakes up to find that she has been given the ultimate second chance – she’s 16 again. As Flora navigates school, first loves – new and old – and discovers what it really means to make adult choices, will she stay in her new body or try to find her way home?
The Love Study by Kris Ripper
Narrated by Pete Cross
Dreamscape Media
Declan has commitment issues. He’s been an office temp for literally years now, and his friends delight in telling people that he left his last boyfriend at the altar.
And that’s all true. But he’s starting to think that maybe it’s time to start working on his issues.
When Declan meets Sidney – a popular nonbinary YouTuber with an advice show – an opportunity presents itself: as part of The Love Study, Declan will go on a series of dates arranged by Sidney and report back on how the date went in the next episode.
The dates are…sort of blah. It’s not Sidney’s fault; the folks participating are (mostly) great people, but there’s no chemistry there. Maybe Declan is just broken.
Or maybe the problem is that the only person he’s feeling chemistry with is Sidney.
The Unspoken by Ian K. Smith
Narrated by Amir Abdulla
Brilliance Publishing
In this new series from number one New York Times best-selling author Ian K. Smith, an ex-cop turned private investigator seeks justice on the vibrant, dangerous streets of Chicago.
Former Chicago detective Ashe Cayne is desperate for redemption. After refusing to participate in a police department cover-up involving the death of a young black man, Cayne is pushed out of the force. But he won’t sit quietly on the sidelines: he’s compelled to fight for justice as a private investigator…even if it means putting himself in jeopardy.
When a young woman, Tinsley Gerrigan, goes missing, her wealthy parents from the North Shore hire Cayne to find her. As Cayne looks into her life and past, he uncovers secrets Tinsley’s been hiding from her family. Cayne fears he may never find Tinsley alive.
His worries spike when Tinsley’s boyfriend is found dead – another black man murdered on the tough Chicago streets. Cayne must navigate his complicated relationships within the Chicago PD, leveraging his contacts and police skills to find the missing young woman, see justice done, and earn his redemption.
Every Missing Thing by Martyn Ford
Narrated by Simon Mattacks
Brilliance Publishing
One family. Two missing children. A lifetime of secrets.
Ten-year-old Ethan Clarke’s disappearance gripped the nation. Just as his parents are starting to piece together a life ‘after Ethan’, their world is ripped apart once more when their daughter, Robin, disappears in almost identical circumstances. They’ve lost two children within a decade…and now doubts about their innocence are setting in.
Detective Sam Maguire’s obsession with the first case cost him his own family, but he has unfinished business with the Clarkes. He is convinced that discovering what happened to Ethan holds the key to finding Robin. But what if the Clarkes know more than they’re letting on?
With the world watching eagerly, the clock is ticking for Sam as he embarks on an investigation that forces him to confront his own demons. To uncover the truth, he must follow a trail of devastating deception – but the truth always comes at a cost….
Whitehavens by Parker Bilal
Narrated by Damian Lynch
Audible, Ltd
In a mission that goes badly wrong, loyal assassin Brodie takes out the nephew of the criminal mastermind he works for – and the hitman suddenly finds himself in the firing line.
Saved by the woman he was sent to kill, Brodie is injured and at her mercy. But Brodie and Karima know too much about unforgiving gangster Donny to remain alive. Brodie his gun for hire. Karima his accountant. They both know where the bodies are buried.
And when Donny turns the might of his brutally violent empire on them there’s only one thing to do: run. Because as Brodie knows all too well, a moving target is harder to hit. Bound together, this unlikely couple must do all they can to survive. But can Karima ever trust the man who was sent to end her life?
Taking flight, they can only outpace their would-be killers for so long. When they run out of road, they have one last shot at freedom. But can they make it – before it’s too late?
Snowhook by Jo Storm
Narrated by Dana Stoutenburg
Dundurn
Hannah must rely on her survival instincts to endure a brutal ice storm and save her family.
At first, when a massive ice storm traps 14-year-old Hannah and her family in a remote cabin, it feels like a game to practice the survival skills she’s been learning. That all changes when an accident leaves her mother desperately low on insulin. With no power and no way to contact the outside world, Hannah steals away with the four family dogs tied to an old dogsled.
All she has to do is make it to the nearest cabin and find a working phone to save the day. But a wrong turn and worsening weather leave her in grave danger and saddled with an unexpected passenger. Hannah must use all her skills and resourcefulness to get help for her family – before they all freeze to death in the wilderness.
- Muted (Silence Jones #10 by Erik Carter (Narrated by Gary Bennett) - December 4, 2023
- New and Notable Audiobook Releases for the Week of December 3rd on Brian’s Book Blog - December 3, 2023
- Disease X by N.J. Croft (Narrated by Joshua Saxon) - December 1, 2023
